1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is in the field of cured tire treads.
2. Description of the Related Art
When tires become worn, they can be restored with new tread. Large truck tires are typically retreaded as part of a routine tire-management program. The carcass of a truck tire is expected to last several hundred thousand miles and be amenable to having a new tread adhered to it several times. New truck tires are quite expensive and are therefore bought with the expectation that their high initial costs are offset by the long service life of the carcass and the low comparative cost of retreading.
A variety of procedures and different types of equipment are available for use in recapping or retreading pneumatic tires. One of the first steps in retreading a worn tire is to remove existing tread material from the tire carcass by a sanding procedure known as buffing. Next a layer of what is known as “cushion gum” is applied to the carcass. This layer of extruded, uncured rubber may be stitched or adhesively bonded to the carcass. Next, a tread layer, or tread band, is applied atop the layer of cushion gum. In the cold recapping process, the tread layer is cured rubber, and has a tread pattern already impressed in its outer surface. The tire is then placed in an autoclave, and heated under pressure for an appropriate time to induce curing of the gum layer, and binding of the gum layer to the inner or sole side of the tread layer and the carcass. The term “cure” refers to the formation of cross-links between the elastomer molecules in the rubber compound.